November, 2321
Earth, Sol System, Pacific Ocean
The young Jason Shire scrambled up one of the crumbling, vegetation ridden foundations on the artificial island, navigating rusty ladders and cracked concrete stairs. Sulking around the vines, inside cool shadows, he finally felt the warmth of oceanic sunlight at the top of the structure, able to witness the entirety of the Wang Gao-Dostigat artificial island.
A century and a half ago, at the peak of the old Chinese regime's peak, the Wang Gao island was at the center of an ambitious megastructure project, a space elevator that would further bridge the gap between space and Earth's surface. But the project was abruptly cancelled, China's Soviet callaborators quietly pulling out, and as the URC rose from the ashes to take the Old Guard's place on Earth, it seemed the project to be economically impractical, dedicating its resources to maintain older infrastructure. Thus, the artificial island rotted away while new organic life sprang anew upon its corpse, a painful reminder that despite humanity's technological advancements, entropy was still king.
Not that Jason cared. For all he knew, the island was a beautiful place to witness launches coming from both the URC and the AU. Star Dragon launches were regular occurrence in the Pacific Ocean, as regular as freight trains running through San Francisco, but seeing skyscrapers roar into the sky and beyond riled the imaginations of children and adults alike. Today though, was special, as Jason unpacked his telescope, aiming it at a small, fuzzy shape, filtered blue by the atmosphere. News of the arrest of the Daqin Empress spread across the entire globe, and, more importantly to him, the location of the Jiang Xue was tracked to Low Earth Orbit, right above the Pacific Ocean. It wasn't everyday that a space battleship approached so close to the planet, and Jason was adamant on seeing it with his own naked eye.
Earth, Sol System, Pacific Ocean
The young Jason Shire scrambled up one of the crumbling, vegetation ridden foundations on the artificial island, navigating rusty ladders and cracked concrete stairs. Sulking around the vines, inside cool shadows, he finally felt the warmth of oceanic sunlight at the top of the structure, able to witness the entirety of the Wang Gao-Dostigat artificial island.
A century and a half ago, at the peak of the old Chinese regime's peak, the Wang Gao island was at the center of an ambitious megastructure project, a space elevator that would further bridge the gap between space and Earth's surface. But the project was abruptly cancelled, China's Soviet callaborators quietly pulling out, and as the URC rose from the ashes to take the Old Guard's place on Earth, it seemed the project to be economically impractical, dedicating its resources to maintain older infrastructure. Thus, the artificial island rotted away while new organic life sprang anew upon its corpse, a painful reminder that despite humanity's technological advancements, entropy was still king.
Not that Jason cared. For all he knew, the island was a beautiful place to witness launches coming from both the URC and the AU. Star Dragon launches were regular occurrence in the Pacific Ocean, as regular as freight trains running through San Francisco, but seeing skyscrapers roar into the sky and beyond riled the imaginations of children and adults alike. Today though, was special, as Jason unpacked his telescope, aiming it at a small, fuzzy shape, filtered blue by the atmosphere. News of the arrest of the Daqin Empress spread across the entire globe, and, more importantly to him, the location of the Jiang Xue was tracked to Low Earth Orbit, right above the Pacific Ocean. It wasn't everyday that a space battleship approached so close to the planet, and Jason was adamant on seeing it with his own naked eye.